ICICI Bank, Bengaluru: Police have booked three staff members of ICICI Bank for sharing a woman’s account statements with her estranged husband. The act by the staff has been termed as illegal.
The woman told police that Kavya Koli, her relationship manager at the Malleswaram branch, Chetan J and Sarthak Ray, working for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Koramangala, shared the details with her husband.
The couple got married in May 2021 but later encountered marital disputes. They have been living separately and she has filed a dowry harassment case against her husband. The matter is being heard by a city court.
The woman, who works for a private company, holds an account with the Malleswaram branch. She was stunned when her estranged submitted her account statements during a court hearing. She later learnt that the bank employees had shared them with her husband.
During a court hearing on August 18, 2025, her bank account statements were shared by email, violating banking norms and customer privacy. The woman complained to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) too and had received a compensation of Rs 25,000, she told Deccan Herald.
My concern is about trust, privacy and accountability. Even though I never applied for or enquired about any insurance policy, I was shocked how Chetan and Sarthak managed to access my account details. I had opened the account one and a half years after filing a case against my husband. What is more disturbing is that while compensation was paid, no clarity was given on what action was taken against the employees involved. I was told it was an internal matter, but those employees continue to work as usual. As a customer, I have the right to know how my confidential information was accessed and by whom,” she stated.
She said she was forced to approach the police after her repeated complaints failed to yield any response. Initially, there was reluctance to register an FIR, and FIR was filed only after she approached higher authorities.
She said: The misuse of my banking data did not stop at a privacy breach. My workplace was contacted, rumours were spread, and I was subjected to harassment that ultimately forced me to resign from my job. If this can happen to me, it can happen to any bank customer. This is why I believe the issue is not just personal but a serious public concern about how private banks handle customer data and how easily it can be misused.
After registering a zero FIR at the Koramangala police station, the case has been transferred to the Malleswaram police station. Notices have been issued to all the suspects to ascertain their role in the alleged data breach, a police officer said.
What are the rules by RBI?
The RBI rules clearly state that the account statement of a customer can’t be shared by Bank without the content of customer. This is not the only case, but in past also several such cases have been filed against Bank employees for sharing data of woman/man with her/his spouse.
